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EU VAT refund time limits extended

EU expenses. Where your business incurs expenses in another EU state, e.g. hotel bills or goods not imported into the UK, unless you’re registered for VAT in the country concerned, you can only claim back the foreign VAT by using the new cross-border electronic refund system. This was introduced in January and claims must be submitted within nine months of the end of the year in which the expense was incurred, e.g. for 2009 the deadline was September 30 2010. But things haven’t gone as planned.

IT chaos. The IT systems of many of the EU states haven’t been able to cope with the new set up. As a result, many UK businesses have not been able to register their claim and some have gone out of date. The good news is that the deadline for making 2009 claims has been extended to March 31 2011.

For more information on the refund procedure, visit http://tax.indicator.co.uk (TX 11.04.09).